Father's Day
by Ace1329
Summary: Grace writes about why Father's Day is her favorite holiday. Fairly sappy. Established relationship.


It was Thursday night, dinner had been consumed, dishes had been meticulously washed, and Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams were cuddled up on the couch watching the Yankees. If you asked Danny, his life could not be more perfect. And then his phone rang.

Steve was closest, and he extracted himself from around Danny and leaned forward to grab Danny's phone from the coffee table. He checked the screen and grimaced quickly. Danny sat up. "What? Is it the governor? Please tell me we don't have a case."

"No. It's your wife."

"Ex-wife," Danny grumbled. And although he and Rachel had been getting along much better in recent years, her calling on a Thursday, after Grace's bedtime, the weekend before Danny was supposed to get Grace for the weekend (for Father's Day, no less), was never a good sign. Danny sighed and answered the call.

"Hello Rachel."

"Hello Daniel. How are you?"

"Well right now I'm alternating between nervous and annoyed."

"Oh please, you act like all I do is call to nag you and ruin your life." Danny opened his mouth to speak and before he could Rachel snapped, "Don't even think about it."

Danny grinned, amused with how well his ex-wife knew him.

"What I was calling about, was to see if you and Commander McGarrett would be interested in coming by for dinner tomorrow night. And you could take Grace afterward instead of picking her up Saturday morning."

"We've been together for over a year, Rachel, you can call him Steve," Danny sighed for the hundredth time. His wife's British politeness could come out in the most peculiar ways. "But wait, really? You want to have us over for dinner?" Danny glanced at Steve, who raised an eyebrow but hesitantly nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure. Around seven?"

Rachel confirmed the details and Danny hung up the phone. "Rachel wants to have us over for dinner," Danny said sounding kind of dazed.

"So I heard."

"I don't know if I should be scared or concerned."

"Maybe she's just being nice?" Steve suggested, sounding unsure himself. "I mean, she has made more of an effort since we got together, right?"

Danny nodded and leaned back into Steve. The game was still on the TV, but neither man was really watching.

— — — — —

The entire next day, Danny was rattled. He had been married to Rachel for a long time, he had a kid with the woman, yet he was not sure why she would have invited him and his (well, they hadn't exactly settled on a word for each other yet, despite being in a relationship for over a year, and living together for nearly nine months), his _Steve_, to dinner, with her and her husband, their young son, and the daughter that all four of them shared.

The entire night after the call and much of Friday at work, Danny kept suggesting reasons for the dinner. Steve would be diligently working on paperwork (or looking up car parts on eBay) and Danny would burst in. "Maybe Rachel's pregnant!"

"Maybe," Steve responded.

"Maybe Stan got a new job and they want to move!"

"They can't," Steve reminded Danny calmly.

Danny seemed disappointed by Steve's lack of interest in the dinner's motivations. He seemed more upset that Danny was making him wear jeans and a button-up to dinner than anything else. When five 'o'clock rolled around, Steve and Danny said goodbye to Chin and Kono and drove home to shower and get dressed before dinner. And Danny still hadn't calmed down. Even Steve's offer of a blowjob in the shower couldn't get Danny to focus.

Finally, Steve had had enough. "Danno," he said forcefully as Danny was retying his tie for the fifth time.

Danny looked up slowly, his tie a knotted mess in his hands.

Steve, still wrapped in his towel after his disappointingly-innocent shower strode over to where Danny stood and placed his hands over Danny's, drawing them down from his tie. "Danny. Nothing is wrong. Rachel is just being nice. And it's Father's Day weekend, maybe Gracie just wanted to do something with you and Stan together."

Something flickered over Danny's face. He exhaled. "You're probably right. Rachel wouldn't go to all of this trouble to deliver bad news."

Steve looked up, almost as if thanking a higher power, and smiled. "Yes. Now, could we get ready to go?"

"Sure, but just—" Danny's hands found a new piece of fabric to fumble with as he swiftly undid the knot in Steve's towel that had been holding it in place. The towel fell to floor. "Oops," Danny grinned. "Let me help you with that…"

— — — — —

Despite their various troubles getting dressed, they still managed to pull up Rachel's driveway five minutes early. Steve fidgeted with his shirt cuffs and Danny smoothed his tie as the door opened. Rachel stood there with a smile. "Thank you for coming, boys. Do come in."

Dinner was a fairly uneventful affair. Grace, bookended by Steve and Danny, told everyone about the summer camp she was attending. Grace was enjoying all of the writing activities that the camp offered, but was equally looking forward to cheer camp later in the summer. Charlie was just beginning to string together enough words to make actual sentences, and Steve was surprisingly enthralled by him. For not the first time, Danny thought that Steve would make a terrific father. _Not would make_, Danny corrected himself_, he already is_. And he looked at how Steve was hanging on Grace's every word about all of the writing prompts she had done at her camp and all of the new friends she was making.

By dessert, Danny realized that he was actually enjoying himself. And after coffee, Danny heard himself suggest that they do this again sometime, maybe at his and Steve's place. Rachel's smiled and agree that "That would be lovely," before placing her napkin in her lap. "Well, Daniel, there was a reason that I invited you both here tonight."

Danny's stomach, full of prime rib and a truly spectacular strawberry shortcake, dropped.

"Would you stop making that face, Danny, it's nothing bad. Gracie just wanted to share one of her writing assignments with you all. Honestly." And with that, Rachel picked up Charlie and carried him out of the room.

Grace stood up and picked up a sheet of paper that Danny hadn't noticed before and faced Danny, Stan, and Steve. Suddenly, Grace got shy and seemed embarrassed about what she had written. Steve reached an arm out to her. "Hey sweetie, we're going to love whatever it is, I promise you that. And we can't wait to hear it."

Grace swallowed and faced them again. "Well at camp, our counselor said since Father's Day was coming up, it might be nice if we all wrote something about why we love our dads and we could give it to them Sunday. And I wrote something, but I wanted to read it to you all at the same time."

Danny could feel his throat closing up already. God, he loved his little girl so much.

Grace cleared her throat and looked down at her paper. "Danno. Danno is my dad. He's the dad that helped make me and was with me every day when I was little. He always played with me and Mom showed me a video where he helped me take my first steps. And my first word was "dada" because I loved my Danno so much." Danny's eyes were filling but he tried to hold back the tears. He wanted to hear every word of this. "He always built snowmen with me and made snow angels even though it was so cold that I'd turn into a Gracesicle." Grace giggled and glanced up to catch Danny's eyes quickly.

"When my mommy and daddy got divorced I was really sad because Danno had to move out and I didn't get to see him every day. And then when me and Mommy moved to Hawaii, Danno was really far away and I cried a lot because I missed him so much." Fuck it, Danny was crying. "But then Danno moved to Hawaii too. And when I asked him if he would miss New Jersey and Grandma and Grandpa he said of course, but that he missed me more than all of those things combined. He just wanted to be where I was because I was his little girl. And Danno is one of my favorite people in the whole wide world because he gave up so much so that he could be with me, and Mommy says that I'll appreciate that more one day, but I should know how much Danno loves me and I have proof."

"And I'm really lucky because I have Danno who loves me more than anything, but I have more than one dad, now. Step-Stan is my stepdad and he loves me a lot too. He took a bullet for me, which is like a big deal and stuff, and Mommy said that is something that people say to show how much they love and care about people, but with Step-Stan he actually did. And I've only had Step-Stan in my life for a few years, but he takes care of me and Mommy and Charlie. And I love that he bought me Mr. Hoppy and my cell phone, but I also love that sometimes he misses important meetings to come watch me cheer or play tennis or be in the spelling bee. And even when he can't come, he sends me a text message telling me 'Good luck!' and 'I'm so proud of you!' And that means a lot to me too. And the best thing about having a stepdad is that they pick you. You are a package deal with your mom and stepdads choose to be a part of your family because they love _you_, too."

Stan was not-so-subtly dabbing his eyes with his handkerchief, and Danny looked at him and gave him a watery smile. He'd never thought about how much Stan must mean to Grace. And he wished he had, because his daughter was one lucky girl.

Steve swallowed and his voice cracked some as he started to speak. "Grace, that was—"

Grace shot Steve a dirty look. "Steve, I'm not done."

Steve sat back, scolded, and made a zipper motion over his lips.

"And I am the luckiest girl who ever lived because I have my Danno, and my Step-Stan, but I have my Step-Steve, too." Steve inhaled sharply, stunned at being included. "Step-Steve is my last dad because he's in love with Danno. And he's not actually my stepdad because Daddy and Steve can't get married because those idiots in the government don't think everyone deserves equal rights—" Danny cleared his throat, because that sure sounded like something he's ranted to Steve about one night when he was sure Grace had been asleep "—but if they were allowed to get married they would be, so really, Steve is my stepdad too (even though I call him Uncle Steve). Uncle Steve is the most fun out of all of my dads because he's still trying to figure out how to be a parental figure."

That sounded like a Rachel comment if Danny ever heard one, and boy, was Steve never going to let Danny live down that he was the fun one.

"But Uncle Steve teaches me how to surf and do martial arts so I can defend myself against boys like Tommy. And Uncle Steve always talks Danno into letting us get shave ice or stay at the beach longer, because Danno can stand up to one set of puppy-dog eyes, but not two. Uncle Steve is like my partner in crime. What's awesome about Uncle Steve is that he's like my stepdad, but he's also like one of my best friends, and I think that's one of the best things about daddies. And Uncle Steve always tells me that he only let Daddy move in with him because he wanted to see me more. I know he's kidding, but I know that that means that he really loves me. He's just not really good at saying it.

"But basically, what I'm saying is that Father's Day is the most important holiday to me because I have three awesome dads that love me a lot, and I am the luckiest person ever, because I love all of them too." Grace finished and looked up to find three grown men weeping at the kitchen table over leftover dinner dishes. Her face dropped. "Was it bad?" she whispered.

All three men laughed suddenly. "No Grace," Stan said standing up and walking toward her, "it was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Thank you so much." He hugged her tightly and then excused himself to the kitchen.

Danny laughed again. "Baby, I really don't know what I did to be so lucky. I really don't. All the other dads in the world must be so jealous of me, really." Grace grinned and hugged Danny tight. When he stepped away, they both saw Steve, head hanging, still sitting at the table. "Steve," Danny said strongly.

Steve looked up and his eyes were still shining with tears. And his face was one of pure love and surprise and "What did I do to deserve this happiness?" Without saying a word, Steve swooped Grace up and buried his head into her hair. She giggled. Steve finally made eye contact with her. "I love you, Grace. I'm sorry I don't say it more, but I'm glad you know. And I couldn't be more honored that you consider me one of your dads. It's the most important job that I've ever been given and I will do my best to do right by you." Grace nodded seriously and Steve put Grace back down.

When Rachel walked back in a moment later, her eyes looked a little red too, Danny hugged her fiercely. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear. "Thank you for this, and thank you for Grace." She nodded quickly and Danny released her.

Father's Day was Danny's favorite holiday, too.


End file.
